Olive
Olive is an action RPG by N Studios for The V². The game's extensive plot is centered around a teenage girl whose origins are a mystery to her and those around her. One night, her village is attacked, and she acquires the ability to use a legendary power. These events lead her into uncovering grand conspiracies, shocking histories, and of course, her own unknown past, all while making new friends and enemies along the way. Story Chapter 1: The Children of Wies Waking Up It is a warm summer day in the lush hills and valleys dotting the countryside of Kraj. Kraj is the major eastern region of Pangaia, a prosperous country on the seaside of a larger continent. Within the valley of a mountain range acting as the border between Kraj and the cold region to the north, a small village resides peacefully along a main dirt road. Wies Village is not home to many people; only a few handfuls of poor Krajans call the place home. These residents are the main laborers in the region, engaging in such activities such as farming and mineral mining to service the country. And yet, the stories and experiences of some of these people are far richer than their monetary wealth. In a little corner of the village, underneath the branches of the borderline trees of the nearby Jasny Forest, a special abode rests. Outside this home, a sign reads: The Children of Wies. "Come on Olive, let's go explore in the forest today!" A short and thin boy with blue hair and fair skin awakens a girl of similar age to his own: about fourteen to be exact. The girl leaps off of her bed. She is nearly half-a-head taller than the boy. "Right behind you, Cazten!" Brushing some of her hanging ash-blonde hair out of her face, further revealing her striking green eyes, Olive follows the boy out into the village's market area. Getting One Last Friend Olive and Cazten eventually meet up with a girl about a year older than them, and fellow Children of Wies house resident: Emyla Uto. "But guys, you know I have to stay put at the Entrance Store all day," Emyla groans, "How am I gonna be able to join?" "Oh come on, it'll only take a few minutes!" Cazten starts pointing towards the trees, "There's something I really really gotta show you two!" "Oh? What did you find?!" Olive is immediately intrigued, "Is it awesome? Is it breath-taking? Is it treasure? Is it...dead people?!" Cazten laughs along excitedly, "I can't tell you!" "I bet it's dead people." Olive responds. Emyla rolls her eyes, "Can't we do this tomorrow?" "No no, I don't want you guys to go finding it without me." Cazten answers, jittering and eager to get going. Emyla thinks it over. It was nearing the middle of the day, and it is the middle of the week...no one's coming to buy anything anyway. "Oh, alright, lead the way." Emyla joins her friends. The Forest The early afternoon summer sun bears down on Olive, Cazten, and Emyla as they entered into the lush green of Jasny Forest, a collection of trees, paths, rocks, and streams on a short hill near Wies Village. Folk legend has it that the forest once was held sacred by an earlier civilization. Along the way, the three friends encounter a truly creepy creature. It possesses a humanoid form, but is comprised entirely out of a dark purple energy, swirling and raging as if wanting to break free from its shape. Where a face should lie, an circular absence of matter similar to a black hole is present. The creature looks in their direction. Olive shrieks. "Eeeeek! What the heck is that?!" Emyla's eyes widen, "This had better not be that super-cool thing I left the safety of my boring post for, Cazten!" Cazten shook in fear, "It-it's n-not! That wasn't h-here before!" Before they could all run away, the creature leaped forward into them. Olive, Cazten, and Emyla manage to beat the Faceless back enough for it to cower away. As they catch their breath, Cazten is the first to continue walking, as they have just reached a clearing in the trees. "This..." The boy exhales, "This is what I wanted to show you." Both of his arms outstretch, as he gestures around to the many mysterious stone and marble ruins concealed by the foliage. "...Woah." Olive and Emyla echo each other's reaction, as they both look around in awe. "I've only heard about things like this in stories..." Emyla takes a closer look at one of the ruins: a chunk of a column, once pure white and now a dirtied, overgrown earthly tone, with strange markings engraved in it. "We have failed our people," Olive suddenly begins reading the marked language, "Beware...the other side." "Uh...what?" Emyla stands up, completely confused, "You can read that?" "I...I don't know..." Olive takes a step back, unsure of what just happened herself, "I-I never--" "She's obviously just messing with you," Cazten responds to Emyla, and then changes the subject, "Guys, look over here!" The two girls try to forget about what just happened, and bound over to Cazten, who is at the other side of the clearing. "Look at this thing!" Cazten points to a piece of iridescent rock, fastened to a small chain. The accessory-like item is sealed inside of some sort of impervious glass, a part of a large stone altar that was once ornately built, and now is looking half put together. "It's...it's Prismite." Emyla recognizes the shiny rock, "It's what they dig for in the mines outside of town." "But why would Prismite be in here..." Olive reaches her right hand to the glass. Suddenly, narrow, previously inconspicuous little channels in the altar begin to glow a bright teal color. Before she could jump away, a very confused and surprised Olive feels the glass cover dissipate under her hand. After that, the altar calms back down, leaving the exposed chain. "What...in...the..." Cazten stands, trying to keep his jaw from falling to the floor. Emyla is having the same reaction in her head, but chooses a more reserved outward appearance. Olive reluctantly, slowly takes the chain from its resting place. She places it rock-first into her pocket to keep it from falling out, and then meekly suggests, "Can we go back now?" Emyla seconds that notion, "Yeah, yeah, I think I've seen enough of this for one day. Maybe one lifetime, you know?" She gives a half-hearted laugh, turning towards the path they arrived from. "That. Was. AWESOME!" Cazten can't hold back anymore, "Olive, how did--and you--and now--" Emyla shoots him a look, as Olive stands between the two of them, unusually quiet and with her head down at that. Cazten shuts up. A Cold Night "How dare you three leave the village to go off on your own!" The lady who runs the Children of Wies house, Granna, scolds Olive, Emyla, and Cazten outside the house's doors, "Who knows what could happen to you out there? What if you got lost? We would hardly know until it was much too late! And you, Emyla, I wouldn't expect such rashness and recklessness as to abandon your work for such frivolity at your age!" The three young teens just stand there, taking the lecturing but understanding that what they saw, regardless of it being wrong to go look, was perhaps much more important. Granna somehow caught on to a degree, unintentionally,"You three aren't saying a word, aren't moving an inch...frankly you look like you've all seen a ghost! Well look here, I may be old but I am not that far gone! Not yet! Now go to bed, the lot of you!" That night, Olive lay awake in her bed, the top bunk over Emyla, and just a small distance away from Cazten's own top bunk, looking up into the hole in the house roof, and holding the Mysterious Chain up so the Prismite rock could reflect the moonlight. Her stomach groaned and felt tied up in knots; she thought she'd never fall asleep with this nauseating and nervous feeling. Eventually, she falls asleep, and has a dream...a re-telling of very early memories in her life. Olive is dragged out from a place of pitch darkness, up to the Children of Wies house. She sees Granna, a bunch of little kids, and then is finally placed over with two other children: Emyla and Cazten. She feels like crying, but doesn't somehow. Granna and some adults argue until the kids all get to go inside. One of the adults, an older man dressed in a dark cloak, suddenly turns looks at Olive directly as she looks back, heading through the house doors. His coat is decorated in...Prismite gems. His blue eyes stare into hers with a great force of power. "Yaagh!" Olive screams, shocked awake by the scary turn in her dream. The sounds of drums...big, loud, war drums fills the air. Screams of the kids and teens, screams of her friends suddenly fade into hearing. An explosion rattles outside. The night sky above fills with smoke and the crackling of fire. What did she just wake up to...? "Olive!!" Emyla screams, tears flinging from her eyes and a look of death upon her face. She grabs her friend and helps her to the floor, as another blast shakes the house and fells a couple beams. The two run out of the house, as Cazten calls for everyone to escape, and directs them out of the village. "What is happening?!" Olive yells amidst the cacophany of madness around them. "An army from the north," Emyla shouts, "They're going to burn everything down!" As Olive and Emyla group with Cazten, suddenly a heavily-dressed northern soldier on a horse appears from behind the house. "I've found it!" He shouts in a deep, heavy accent. With impressive strength and precision, the soldier throws a steel-tipped spear towards Olive and company. Interestingly, the spear is attached to a retractable rope on the horse. The soldier's eyes are fixated on...a certain shiny rock around Olive's neck. "Move!!" Emyla, without second thought, pushes a fearful frozen Olive out the way, and is speared in her left leg. "Emyla!!" Olive falls to the ground, and wails for her friend. Emyla lets out a blood-curdling cry, as she is pulled back to the soldier. Cazten only lets out these stuttering squealing noises, unable to even form a complete sound amongst the chaos and pain he is witnessing. Suddenly, a cloaked figure zooms out from the burning village at an almost inhuman speed, and grabs Olive by the arm, whisking her away from her remaining friend. "No!!! Stop!!" Olive struggles, but it is to no avail. She is helplessly dragged, nearly flown, into the forest. She turns away, not wanting to see anything more. A steady flow of tears reach her already sweat and dirt-stained shirt. Her ride stops in the clearing with the ruins. The cloaked figure lets go of Olive, and she finally gets a good look at her captor. The face is covered in darkness, but she notices an identical decoration of Prismite stones to that of the older man in her dream. "Who the hell are you...?!" Olive asks in exasperated, tumultuous anger, "What have you done?!?" She immediately ties the recent disastrous events to him. "Do you have the Resonance Chain?" The cloaked figure asks in a male's voice, fitting Olive's dream even more. He is calm and almost monotone, soothing but seemingly unfeeling. "What...you mean this?!" Olive holds up the Prismite rock and chain she's been holding onto, "What does this have to do with anything?!" "They will come for you." The cloaked man says. "...Who?!" "Everyone. Everything. You must be ready, Olive Kasza." That name. Her full name. It hit Olive with a wave of a sort of nostalgic confusion. She had heard it before, but couldn't remember anything about her past in which she was called by that name. "Ah," The man continues, "You really don't remember." He holds out a small charm in his black-gloved right hand. It is teal, like the lighting on the altar from before, and is in the shape of the Origin Star, the insignia of the country Pangaia and the icon emblazoned onto Olive's shirt as part of her laborer's clothes given to her after she arrived in Wies. Olive, after a seemingly long silence, snatches the charm from the cloaked man, and it instantly affixes itself onto the chain, following the Prismite rock. "Collect the old charms around Pangaia," The man explains, "And you will be ready, in knowledge and in power. Head for the capital, Centralis, immediately and inform the king on the events this night." Olive is still shaking. Honestly all she wants to do is curl up into a ball and wake up from this nightmare. "By the Great Prism's reflection," The man turns to leave, "Do not be afraid, Olive Kasza." And with that, the cloaked man is gone. Olive passes out in the clearing from sheer exhaustion and trauma. The sounds of the drums and fire, the sounds of the villager's screams, all of it is gone. The next day, Olive wakes up, just where she left off. It wasn't a dream. She sets out for Centralis, with her head held down and Resonance Chain around her neck, the Prismite rock clutched in her hand towards her chest. A chilly wind blows across the vast Krajan field she travels out into. Chapter 2: Welcome to the Grand City Gameplay The gameplay most closely resembles that of the Mario & Luigi series, as well as the Paper Mario series. Olive has two main sections of gameplay: exploring the various locations, known as fields, using different traversal abilities acquired throughout the game, and battlegrounds, which a player enters upon touching an enemy character within a field, or initiating a boss fight. Battles are turn-based, and rely heavily upon action commands to get the most out of basic moves and performing special moves. As the player progresses further into the game, they will acquire a variety of potential party members to mix and match in two partner spaces, meaning there can be a total of three playable forces on a battleground. Prism Abilities and Attacks With the Resonance Chain, Olive can command different powers using the magic force of Prism. Prism Abilities are the powers that Olive can use in the field, and Prism Attacks are those that she can use in battle. Whenever Olive receives a new Chain Link, she gets a new Prism Ability and Prism Attack. These otherworldly moves, when used, deplete a Prism Meter. This gauge will replenish very slowly over time, however items can be bought that will refill portions or the entire thing. Characters Playable Partners Helpful NPCs Ultima-Res Forms Bosses Items Important These items are essential to the player's progression in the game, and are oftentimes acquired through indirect means, such as in a cutscene. Recovery and Stat Boost These items can affect the stats of Olive and her partners. They are used completely by the discretion of the player, and are usually found in the field or acquired via shop purchase or as spoils from battles. All of these items can be used repeatedly during battle, for as long as the player has enough! Recovery Stat Boost Special Effects There are actually special effects that trigger when a single recovery or stat boost item is used repeatedly on one party member in a battle. These effects are sometimes purely cosmetic, but certain ones actually affect the battle. The number of uses varies depending on the item, the specific character, and if the item is used successively a number of turns. Equippables These items...well, it's pretty self-explanatory. When equipped, these items provide permanent upgrades to certain stats of Olive or her partners. Equippables are split into the following categories: Outfits Outfits provide multiple stat boosts (and often reductions as well) to their wearers. Instead of having multiple outfits specifically for Olive and her several partners, any outfit can be equipped to any character in the player's party. The appearance of that outfit adapts based on the character chosen, but of course the stat effects remain the same. Wearables Weapons Resonance Chain Links When Olive visits a Keepers' Ruin, she will connect with it and be given a new link to add to her Resonance Chain. These links give her new powerful Prism Attacks and Abilities. Locations Pangaia Kraj *Jasny Forest *Wies Village *Foxtail Ravine *Prism Mine Centralis *Centralis *Tower Royale *Silent Historia Nanto *Nishi Town *Blossom Temple Snezhok *Fort Snownight *Igloo Peak *Ice Planetarium The Other Side Jasny Portal *Fading Light *Base of Prismkeeper Tower Beta Royale Portal *Long-Ago Town *Base of Prismkeeper Tower Gamma Blossom Portal *End of Knowledge *Base of Prismkeeper Tower Delta Cosmos Portal *Castle of Despair *Base of Prismkeeper Tower Epsilon Historia Portal *Origin Point *Base of Prismkeeper Tower Grand Alpha Soundtrack Gallery Olivelogo.png|Logo Olivekasza.png|Olive Kasza (Krajan Casual) Jozavazel.png|Joza Vazel (Centralis Formal) Zaniavazel.png|Zania Vazel (Centralis Formal) Trivia *''Olive'' is the first RPG game title by N Studios. *It is also the studios' largest project to date. *Each region of Pangaia is loosely inspired by a culture in real life. Earlier in development, this influence was greater, but over time, the regions developed identities of their own, straying away from their real-world foundations. The names of the regions and the places within them are the strongest indications of the cultures they started out following. **For more Pangaia-specific trivia, see here. *''Olive'' is heavily inspired by various anime, not the least of which include Fullmetal Alchemist, Kill la Kill, ''and ''Soul Eater. Western influences such as Game of Thrones ''are also involved. **The large anime influence also pushed for a return to an art style that N Studios has not expanded upon since the production of Voidverse, which allowed for a more realistic look. *The story of ''Olive has gone through several considerable changes during development. Category:N Studios Category:Role-Playing Games Category:Games Category:V2 Games Category:Action Role-Playing Games Category:Original Games Category:2016 Category:2017